Singapore — This is a top ranking that online commenters definitely didn’t want for Singapore.
In fact, the netizens quickest to sound off were decidedly unhappy with the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) for placing Singapore at its very highest Covid-19 risk level for travellers.
They offered diverse reasons for their dissatisfaction with Singapore’s classification as a “very high” risk destination. Some directed their ire at the US, and others aimed their sarcasm at the Singapore government.
Not a few netizens pointed out that, rather ironically, the US is one of the countries that recently implemented a vaccinated travel lane (VTL) arrangement with Singapore, which means that fully-vaccinated US travellers can enter the Republic without serving quarantine.
Level 4 is the CDC’s highest risk category. It comes with a warning to “Avoid travel to these destinations. If you must travel to these destinations, make sure you are fully vaccinated before travel.”
This means that the CDC considers Singapore to be at the same danger level as Afghanistan, the Central African Republic, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Malaysia, Turkey and Somalia, among other countries.
The Singapore information page on the CDC website warns travelers that even those who are fully vaccinated “may be at risk for getting and spreading COVID-19 variants”.
To some commenters, this description seemed like a case of the pot calling the kettle black. And they said as much. Given that the US has the highest number of Covid infections and fatalities in the world, this was not unreasonable.
According to the latest figures from the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center, the US had recorded more than 728,000 Covid-19 deaths out of 45 million confirmed cases.
Others were equally critical.
Some questioned why the VTL had even been extended to the US, if Singapore was such a high-risk country to visit.
Other netizens brought up a recent quote from Health Minister Ong Ye Kung, who had said on Monday (Oct 18) that “day by day, we are moving closer to the light at the end of the tunnel” in the light of Singapore being classified as a “very high” risk travel destination by the CDC.
Lawyer and politician Lim Tean, a founder of the opposition People’s Voice called the situation “Very Sad”.
/TISG